


A Whale of a Time

by cupcakecat22



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 08:52:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16783690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupcakecat22/pseuds/cupcakecat22
Summary: Whale-shaped playground structures are not built to withstand earthquakes.





	A Whale of a Time

Keith sat on a bench in the Children’s museum, a coffee in his hand, his laptop resting on his lap as he glanced around at the playing and running through. A couple feet across from where he sat was a whale plaything, one with its mouth partially open that children could go and play inside. Keith never understood why small kids would want to climb into the mouth of a large whale, but it seemed to be a popular place to play. Kids were running and giggling all around it. Keith realized that the children’s museum probably wasn’t the best place to write an article, but since the article was about the life of the city, it was a good inspiration.  
“Excuse me, is this yours?” Keith heard a voice say, causing him to look up. In front of him stood a tan and handsome boy with sandy hair, a lanky frame, and sparkling blue eyes, holding the hand of a small girl and Keith’s phone in the other. He held out Keith’s phone, smiling sheepishly. _Lance_ , Keith thought, _Oh crap_. Keith happened to have a crush on this particular boy from school. He forced his mind to stay rational.  
“It is, thanks,” Keith responded, taking it from the boy’s hand and setting it on his backpack.  
“My little sister grabbed it off your bag and brought it to me. Sorry about that,” the boy explained, “I’m Lance, by the way, and this is Emilia.” The girl slid behind Lance’s leg and waved shyly. Keith waved back with a small smile. He of course didn’t need to be told the boys name. In fact, his name happened to be doodled on many pages of Keith’s English notebook.  
“I’m Keith,” said Keith, holding out his hand. Lance smiled and took it.  
“Emilia, why don’t you go play over there with your friends?” Lance asked his sister. She nodded and dashed away, leaving Lance and Keith alone. Lance sat down next to Keith and leaned over to look at his computer screen. Keith self-consciously leaned away and turned his screen away from the newcomer.  
“What are you writing?” Lance asked, blue eyes trained on Keith, who searched them for any hint of mean intend but found only curiosity.  
“An article for the school newspaper, about our city. I came here because it gives you a good idea about how our city affects the youth,” Keith told him, gesturing around to the children.  
“Cool! Don’t we go to the same school? I think I’ve seen you in the hallways,” Lance asked, resting his elbows on his knees.  
“Yeah, I think we have the same English teacher,” Keith responded, tapping his fingers on his keyboard.  
“I thought I recognized you” replied Lance, “Sorry if this is weird, but you have fascinating eyes. They’re grey and brown at the same time and it’s mesmerising.” Keith blushed and turned back to his laptop. He continued to write, purposely avoiding eye contact when he felt the ground start to vibrate.  
“Hey, do you feel that?” Keith asked, worried.  
“Yeah, I think it’s an earthquake,” Lance answered. The vibrating got more violent and turned to shaking.  
“EARTHQUAKE, EVERYONE GET UNDER SOMETHING AND DROP, COVER, AND HOLD!” a supervisor yelled above the noise of the rattling building. Children screamed and ran for cover. Lance stood, looking for the closest place to seek protection. Keith stood to join him, accidentally knocking his backpack over in the process. He watched his phone tip off the top of his bag and shoot across the floor and into the mouth of the whale. Not even thinking, he lunged after it.  
“Wait! What are you doing?” Lance shouted after him. Keith didn’t answer, instead he crawled into the whale’s mouth after his phone. He grabbed for it but the violently shaking floor bounced it away, deeper into the whale. When his hand finally closed around it, he turned to see Lance standing above him with his hand out.  
“We need to get to a safer place!” Lance yelled. Suddenly, there was a loud crack followed by a large thud that plunged the two boys into darkness in the whale’s belly.

Next to the whale, behind the bench where Keith was sitting, was a big plaster mountain with a path that wound up the middle that kids could hike and explore the fake surroundings. This mountain had a number of tall, fake trees lining the sides which, in the violent earthquake, had experienced a great amount of stress. This excess of stress places on the fake trees had caused several cracks to form. In one instance, a fake tree formed so many cracks in the base that it snapped and fell, landing on the front half of the whale’s face. The whale play structure was never meant for this weight to be distributed into such a small area so fast, so the whale gave in and the mouth gave out, slamming into the ground, completely shut for the first time. This turn of events also happened to leave Keith and Lance stranded in the whale’s belly without light or an exit.

“CRAP!” Lance exclaimed, “The whale's mouth got slammed shut! We’re trapped!” The shaking had finally stopped, but Keith was still trapped in the dark with the boy he had a major crush on. This was going to be an interesting time.

**1:37 pm**  
“How much battery does your phone have? We could try to call someone,” Lance asked Keith. They were sitting side by side, leaning against the whale’s side. Keith held up his phone, the screen illuminating their small surroundings.  
“I have 30% battery but no bars of service. I couldn’t reach anyone if I tried,” Keith responded. Lance slumped down and curled up on the floor. Unsure of what to do, Keith extended his hand and placed it on Lance’s shoulder. Keith heard the other boy inhale sharply and tense under his palm, but then relaxed.  
“We’ll get through this,” Keith reassured Lance.

**2:23 pm**  
Lance had moved away from Keith and was curled in against himself, his breathing measured and shallow.  
“Is everything all right?” Keith asked him, scooting closer.  
“Yeah, I’m just worried about Emilia. And hoping we get out of this stupid whale,” Lance replied. Keith put his arm around Lance, who leaned into Keith’s shoulder, relaxing and putting his arm around Keith waist. Keith tensed slightly and blushed at the touch, but got over himself quickly and just held Lance.

**3:18 pm**  
Keith paced at the front of the whale, desperately trying to get service on his phone. He walked toward the right side of the whale and miraculously, two bars lit up in the corner of his screen.  
“YES!” he shouted.  
“What?” Lance asked from where he was seated on the floor.  
“I have service!” Keith said.  
“Hurry up and call someone!” Lance said urgently. Keith dialed 9-1-1 on his phone and the operator answered.  
“911, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked.  
“In the earthquake, a friend and I got trapped in a whale play structure at the children's museum at 1900 Canal Drive. We’ve been trapped for nearly two hours, trying to get service,” Keith explain to the woman on the line.  
“Okay, we’ll get to you as soon as possible. The fire department is on their way and should be there in about 3-5 minutes. In the meantime, please stay on the line with me to make sure you get out safely,” the operator told Keith. Keith held the phone away from his ear and relayed this to Lance, who stood and walked over to Keith and took his free hand. Keith took a small, sharp breath of surprise and leaned towards Lance. Lance wrapped his arms around Keith and leaned close to his ear.  
“We’re almost out,” Lance whispered, “We’ll be out soon.”

**3:20 pm**  
Keith set his phone on the ground and left it one speaker phone to make sure the pair could hear it if the operator said anything. The two boys were sitting with their backs against the whales side, leaning against each other almost unintentionally. Slowly, Lance extended his fingers towards Keith’s. Keith understood and took Lance’s hand in his, smiling in the darkness. Suddenly, a whirring sound filled the silence. A few seconds later, it stopped and was followed by a man’s voice.  
“My name is Officer Takashi. We’re here to get you out. Remain calm and head to the back end of the whale.” he said. Keith and Lance obeyed and shuffled to the tail end of the structure. Soon, the whirring sound picked back up, followed by a grinding noise. The pair saw sparks as the blade of a circular saw cut through the whale’s side. The blade moved along, creating a doorway out of the whale’s belly. The saw blade reached the floor and someone kicked the section in with a loud bang. A tall and buff man stepped in and introduced himself as Officer Takashi.  
“How long have you two been trapped in here?” Officer Takashi asked them, a look of concern playing across his features.  
“About two and a half hours. We couldn’t get any service so we couldn’t call for help. There were lots of other people here but I guess they didn’t see us go into the whale, or else they would have call you guys,” Keith answered. As the officers eyes slid down between the boys, Keith realised he was still holding Lance’s hand. He dropped it quickly, a blush creeping over his face.  
“Well, it seems like it wasn’t all bad,” Officer Takashi said with a wink, causing Keith to flush even darker. The officer walked away and Keith and Lance were left alone.  
“Thanks for helping me get through that. It would have been unbearable without company,” Lance said, taking Keith’s hand again.  
“Thanks, although I’m sorry you had to be stuck with me. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of other people you would have rather been stuck with,” Keith said with a shrug, dropping his gaze to the floor and releasing Lance’s hand.  
“That’s not true,” Lance replied, his voice soft.  
“It’s fine. I understand,” Keith said. He started to turn away, but before he could, Land pulled him into a passionate kiss. Keith inhaled sharply before kissing him back with all the feelings he had saved. He could feel Lance smile into the kiss, his lips tugging upward against Keith’s. Lance pulled back slightly, their noses still touching.  
“No, you don’t understand.” Lance said breathlessly.  
“What?” Keith asked.  
“You don’t understand how long I’ve wanted to do that.” Lance clarified. Keith blushed and smiled. Lance continued,  
“Now, let’s get you home safe. You have an article to finish that I am greatly anticipating!”

**THE END**


End file.
